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Pakistan A 22 for 3 (Hopes 2-0) trail Australia A 293 (Ronchi 107, Jaques 82) by 271 runs
Scorecard

A lively century from Luke Ronchi gave Australia A a respectable total before the Pakistan A top order threatened to disintegrate in the second Test at Lahore. At stumps on the first day the home side was 22 for 3, still trailing Australia by 271 runs.Khurram Manzoor was the only Pakistan batsman to get off the mark and he was unbeaten on 20 at the close, with Naved Latif yet to score. Doug Bollinger had Khalid Latif caught behind for 0 and James Hopes, who finished with 2 for 0, removed Yasir Hameed and Anwar Ali, each without scoring.It was an unhappy end to a day that had begun well for Pakistan after Faisal Iqbal won the toss and decided to field. The visitors were struggling at 59 for 4 as the Pakistan fast bowlers shared the wickets around, but Phil Jaques and Hopes began the recovery mission.Jaques continued his productive tour – he made 152 in the first Test – with 82 from 99 balls and Hopes managed 34. But it was Ronchi batting at No. 7 who did the major damage, belting two sixes and 16 fours in his 107 from 109 deliveries. Ronchi had solid support from Cullen Bailey (31) as Australia fought their way to 293.

Malcolm Speed has hit out at critics who have accused the ICC of apparent indifference to player workloads, stating that they are “quite simply ill-informed and wrong”.Speed, the ICC chief executive, wrote in an article published on Cricinfo that the ICC was all too aware of the strain on players.”Avoiding that cycle of problems was one reason why the ICC recently introduced its new six-year Future Tours Program (FTP) to replace the existing five year schedule,” he explained. “[It] was put together following extensive consultation and has factored in guidelines, supported at the ICC Cricket Committee, by players at the captains’ meeting and by player representatives, including FICA, concerning the highest volume of matches each side should be playing.”He went on to outline the demands on each country, which should mean that no teams should play more than 15 Test matches and 30 ODIs in a 12-month period, although he added that “teams rarely come close to this limit”.But he warned that some of the scheduling was outside the ICC’s control and was down to the member countries themselves. “There is a reliance on members to be responsible in scheduling additional commitments above and beyond those required by the FTP – two Tests and three ODIs home and away against each other during the six-year period. The ICC recognizes the need for Members to look to maximize their revenue in order to grow the game … but, at the same time, they have to be mindful that the players are their prime assets and overworking them would benefit no one in the long run.”

And Speed said that while the strain of travelling and playing was clear for all to see, he stated that “they are engaged in their career of choice”. He continued: “They are doing something that the vast majority of people that watch them in action can only dream of, and they are well-paid too. The current crop of international stars are better rewarded for their efforts than any of their predecessors.”Players have to realise it is a two-way street. They cannot, on the one hand, complain of playing too much and then turn round and head off for a lucrative spell of English county cricket when there is a break in the schedule.” He also pointed out that not all players were unhappy, and some wanted to actually play more.Speed’s comments would seem to throw the onus back on the individual boards as it is the extra matches they squeeze into gaps in the schedules – such as the DLF Cup in Abu Dhabi this week – that greatly increase the time spent travelling and playing.What is sure is that this debate is far from over.

Kerala’s sole home Ranji Trophy match this season may be shifted from Kochi to Palakkad as the dates for the match clash with Kerala Football Association (KFA) plans to use Kochi’s Nehru Stadium for its national league games.Since the Nehru Stadium is hosting the second of the seven one-dayers between India and Australia on October 2, the KFA scheduled nine of its home matches after October 22. So, the Ranji match, from November 12 to 15, against Services was going to coincide with the football league games.”That could be a problem but I think we can settle the issue amicably after discussions with the cricket association,” KMI Mather, the KFA president, told the . “The All India Football Federation plans to have a strict schedule this season. And we’ll need at least two weeks to prepare a football ground after a cricket match, with the focus being mainly on the wicket.”But shifting the match to Palakkad’s Fort Ground will prove costly for the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA). “[It] will mean an expense of Rs 500,000 to Rs 600,000 because we have to prepare the ground all over again,” said TR Balakrishnan, the KCA interim president.

Yere Goud has obtained clearance from the Indian board (BCCI) to represent Karnataka and will lead the side in their second round Ranji Trophy match against Haryana at Mysore starting on December 1. Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, confirmed that Goud’s clearance had been approved by Sharad Pawar, the board president.Goud was forced to sit out of the first match against Baroda, on technical grounds, as he had failed to obtain the required No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Railways, his previous team, on time. Barrington Rowland, the opening batsman, led the side in Goud’s absence, as Karnataka got off to a disastrous start, losing by seven wickets after they were shot out for 85 in their first innings.Goud, who last represented his home state Karnataka in 1994-95, had been appointed captain as early as August and trained with the probables in their pre-season preparation, for nearly four months. Unfortunately for Goud, Railways failed to intimate the board before the cut-off date for the NOC, which was September 30.

The Indian team has great faith in experimentation. That was the indication given bythe captain-coach combine of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, apart from three members of the Indian squad, who spoke at the team’s media briefing in New Delhi before they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign.Criticised in the media for not having a settledlook yet, with just under six months to go for the World Cup, Greg Chappell clarified that experimentation is basically development of the squad and a “constantprocess.”Giving a positive spin to the experiments, Dravid said that they(experiments) provided results. “What you have always calledexperimentation I have generally called it as strategy, which is whatgives us the best chance to win a game. Whatever strategy will work bestto win a game I will use it. That will depend on the players I have, theform they are in, the fitness of all the players and we have to take a lotof things into consideration that other people are not privy to or [have] accessto.”After a string of successes last year, where India scoredconvincing victories over Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan, the team losttrack first suffering a 4-1 defeat in the Caribbean last season and thenbeing ousted in the tri-nation DLF Cup in Malaysia after managing to winjust one game.The indifferent form of matchwinners like Virender Sehwag, Mahendra SinghDhoni and Irfan Pathan had deeply affected the winning momentum, and thetop order in batting had been shuffled frequently. But seniors likeDravid and Sachin Tendulkar are not losing much sleep. “We had a dip because fewof our key players who were really performing well for us in the period wewere successful haven’t been able to hit perform”, said Dravid, who feltthese were quality players and there was no cause for concern.”Unfortunately in the our last six to seven matches four to five of ourplayers couldn’t click. That is where Australia are good at: they are ableto build a good squad because of the depth they possess. It doesn’t reallymatter if players are out of form as they can always rely on differentpeople,” Dravid added. Instead, he felt that over-reliance on certain players was an areathey should be looking into.Tendulkar, who recently came back during the DLF Cup after a four-monthlayoff, felt that “Not all batsmen are going to be in good form. The oneswho are in good form make it up for the other guys and the same holds forthe bowlers. That adjustment is necessary.” While lending his support forthe team’s flexible methods, Tendulkar thought the need of the hour wasbalance. “Experiments should go on to certain extent. I know it is equallyimportant to settle down and figure individual roles, but that doesn’tmean we should totally stop experimenting. There should be a nicebalance.”Sehwag, who was asked to move down the order to No. 4 in Malaysia, had noqualms adapting to the challenge. Sehwag, who started his career as amiddle order bat, confirmed that he is ready to open in the ChampionsTrophy, but explained “I enjoy batting both as an opener as well in themiddle. More important for me is the challenge. If you are batting in themiddle order and if two or three wickets fall you need to responsible,make runs and at the same time not lose your wicket. When you open theball is new and that is another kind of challenge.”Chappell, who has come in for a lot of flak for his lateral thinking,strongly felt that experiments would benefit in the long run.Refusing to be disappointed about the team’s recent losses, and insteadhappy with the way “Rahul is going about developing the squad”, Chappelltried explaining why what he and his team are doing was necessary. “Thereason that we have done most of these things (experiments) are wellthought through, they are not done at the spur of the moment. Since peopleoutside are not privy to most of our discussions, therefore they are notable to understand what we are trying to do. There are positives that comeout it, like things that individuals learn about themselves, things thatthe individuals learn about the different roles that are required within ateam.”Yet questions remained. A case in point is Irfan Pathan, who is goingthrough an extended bad run with the ball. Dravid adamantly refused tobelieve that and said that his opinion about Pathan remains the same as itwas back when Pathan was performing well with the ball and batting up theorder. “I have always maintained that Irfan Pathan is primarily a bowlerto me first who contributes with the bat. Irfan himself has told us thatbatting up the order has no relevance to his bowling.”Dravid felt it was for the player now to hit back as “There is a certainamount you can do as a captain or a coach. At the end of the day there iscertain thing called individual responsibility and individual performance- you control your own destiny, which is something you should neverforget. We’ve a lot of faith in Irfan and we know how important he is forthe team. We were able to play five bowlers consistently last seasonbecause of the success of Irfan and Dhoni, and I mention them as keyplayers.”Tendulkar felt it was important to have the winning momentum. “Ithas to be with you (momentum) – that is what happened to us in the 2003World Cup where towards the start of the tournament we struggled a bit andtowards the end we were a different lot altogether. That was because westarted gradually but surely, so that was a big turning point for us.”Yuvraj Singh echoed Tendulkar’s thoughts, saying consistency waswhat India need now. “You can’t keep winning for six months and fall awayin the next six months.”

Steffan Jones seems likely to leave Somerset after being given permission to talk to other counties despite having a year left on his current contract. He is thought to have had discussions with Northamptonshire and Kent.Jones, 29, made his debut for Somerset as a solidly-built seam bowler in 1997, the same year he won Blues for cricket and rugby at Cambridge. He took 59 wickets in 2001, and spanked a century off the 1999 New Zealanders in their tour game at Taunton.In 2003 he took only 22 wickets in eight first-class matches, at an average of 42.

The funeral for Sir Clyde Walcott, the former West Indies batsman, will be held at Cave Hill in Barbados on Saturday.Walcott died on August 26 aged 80 after suffering a short illness. He was one of the three Ws – Everton Weekes and Sir Frank Worrell were the others – and will be buried close to Worrell’s grave in a site which overlooks the cricket ground named in their honour.”It is a fitting resting place for Clyde at a ground named in his honour,” his widow, Lady Muriel Walcott, said.In 44 Tests Walcott struck 15 hundreds, and made 3798 runs at an average of 56.68. Walcott managed several West Indian teams and succeeded Sir Colin Cowdrey as chairman of ICC. He was knighted in 1994.

Austin “Jack” Warner, the president of Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association football (CONCACAF), has criticised the proposed move by Texan millionaire Allen Stanford to pour US$28 million into a regional Twenty20 tournament.”Stanford is making the biggest mistake of his life because Stanford believes he can save cricket by building at the top. At the top there is nothing to build. What he should have done with his money is invest it in cricket from the bottom, build on the ground, go into youth programmes, go back to the days of the Wes Hall cricket league. (He should) bring coaches from overseas to help train these young cricketers and over time (in) three, four, five, six years, you will build a cadre of cricketers in the region as you have never seen.”Stanford announced on Monday his plans for a regional Twenty20 tournament scheduled for August and September next year, and which is expected to see 17 countries competing for a top prize of US$1 million. The team finishing second will collect US$500,000 with the boards of the top two teams receiving US$200,000 and US$100,000, respectively, to be used for developmental purposes. While there will be US$25,000 for the Man-of-the-Match in every game, that person will claim US$100,000 in the championship game.Stanford said he had been motivated to undertake the initiative after having witnessed the decline of cricket in the region and hoped the tournament would be “the catalyst for a resurgence of love for the game, that it will signal the return to the glory days of cricket”.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

For the second successive day, the weather played spoilsport and forced Duckworth-Lewis to decide what was shaping into a fascinating contest. This time, Chennai Super Kings were on the right end of the result, as their total of 55 without loss after eight overs, chasing 150, was three runs ahead of the par score when a severe dust storm descended upon the Eden Gardens, and the rains that followed ensured there was no chance for the match to resume. The two points to Chennai moves them up to 14, while Kolkata Knight Riders are stuck on ten points from 11 games.The weather marred the contest, but through 28 overs the crowd witnessed a couple of fine performances. At the same ground where he had announced his arrival in international cricket, Salman Butt played another gem, scoring a classy 73 off 54 balls, to lift an otherwise subdued performance from Kolkata. Chennai had their own man for the moment, as Makhaya Ntini took the third hat-trick of the IPL, dismissing Sourav Ganguly in his third over, and then returning 11 overs later to bowl Debabrata Das – who had been involved in an 86-run stand with Butt – and David Hussey off successive balls.That stand gave Kolkata’s bowlers something to defend, but the most crucial moment of the match came three deliveries before the interruption. Their defence of the total had got off to a poor start as Shoaib Akhtar struggled with what seemed an injured ankle. Stephen Fleming, at last showing the form and fluency of old, and Parthiv Patel had eased to a half-century stand when Parthiv top-edged a pull, but Ashok Dinda put down the skier, and in the process allowed a single. Had that chance been taken, Chennai would have ended level with the par score, and with no further play possible, Kolkata would have gone away with one point.The only positive for Kolkata was that their batting put together a reasonable performance after their abysmal display against Mumbai Indians, when they had been bundled out for 67. Butt’s knock wasn’t the fastest by Twenty20 standards, but considering the context – a pitch lacking in pace, and a batting line-up lacking in confidence – it was just what Kolkata would have wanted.Their start was poor yet again, as Ntini struck twice in his first three overs – Mohammad Hafeez flicked to fine leg and Sourav Ganguly attempted an ungainly heave and found his middle stump knocked back.At 28 for 2 after five overs, Chennai had taken the early honours, before Butt found a partner who was ready to play the support act. Das, drafted into the side in place of Aakash Chopra, creamed a couple of audacious straight sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan – who had a day to forget – but for the most part he was content to play second fiddle to the classy Butt, who played an outstanding knock.As is his wont, Butt was all silken grace through the off side, either making room to cream drives through the covers, or getting behind the line to pepper the point and cover boundaries off the back foot. Manpreet Gony was crisply hit through the covers in his first over, while Ntini, who otherwise gave little away, leaked successive fours off two exceptional shots, as Butt moved away and lofted one through the covers, and then square-drove the next ball through point. Muralitharan was not spared either, as Butt slog-swept a six over midwicket, and then carved three successive fours through midwicket and third man in his last over, as Muralitharan finished with unflattering figures of none for 41.Apart from that partnership, there wasn’t much cheer for Kolkata. Ntini, bowling a full length and attacking the stumps, bowled both Das and Hussey to complete his hat-trick and ended with excellent figures of 4 for 21. Gony’s control was exceptional as well, landing the ball on a length and allowing the batsmen no room. The fielding wasn’t as impressive – S Vidyut was guilty of sloppy misfielding and a missed catch off Butt, while Gony dropped one late in the innings – as Kolkata managed to reach a competitive target. With Shoaib in the attack, there was plenty of hope for the home crowd, but his limp performance, followed by the rain, means Kolkata have plenty of catching up to do to win a semi-final berth.

ScorecardYorkshire, after threatening to lose to Nottinghamshire at their ownheadquarters, eventually fought their way through to a draw, thanks to thetenacity of their ninth-wicket pair of Tim Bresnan and Darren Gough, after somefeeble batting from their middle order. It was an intriguing final sessionafter a draw had seemed likely for most of the day.At start of play Darren Gough made an unusual but perceptive decision to open the bowling with leg-spinner Adil Rashid. The overnight batsman Stuart Broad, much less assured against spin than he had been against pace the previous day, was soon bamboozled and trapped lbw for 53. He had added 113 for the seventh wicket for the seventh wicket with Chris Read, who played himself in carefully, suggesting Nottighamshire were looking for a sizable lead.Mark Ealham was more intent on building that lead quickly, clubbing his first ball past mid-on for four, and running up a rapid 26 before hitting across a full toss and becoming a third successive lbw victim. Read was by now opening up; he lost Ryan Sidebottom, nudging Tim Bresnan weakly to the keeper, and then, with last man and renowned non-batsman Charlie Shreck at the crease, sent up a huge skyer which was eventually well held near mid-on by the bowler Bresnan. He departed for a highly creditable 142, and his team was now dismissed for 422, a lead of 123.Despite losing Joe Sayers, out of form, before lunch for 8, caught in the gully as Sidebottom finally took a long-overdue wicket, Yorkshire for a long time looked immune from defeat. Sidebottom and Shreck bowled well but did not look as lethal as during the first day. Michael Vaughan batted with caution but produced the occasional vintage drive, while Anthony McGrath provided his usual stabilising influence at number three.Vaughan would again rue his dismissal: he cut at a ball from Graeme Swann that was not quite wide enough for the stroke and dragged it on to his wicket for 34. Soon afterwards McGrath (43) was out caught behind hooking for the second time in the match, but with a teatime score of 127 for 3, four runs ahead, Yorkshire looked relatively safe.After the interval, however, the Yorkshire innings resembled the slow subsidence of the Titanic, rather than any dramatic collapse. Jacques Rudolph had again looked very sound, a no-frills batsman playing every ball on its merits, but perhaps he was too quick to assume that the match was safe when he went for his strokes after tea. With 32 to his credit, he played an indecisive shot outside the off stump to Sidebottom and was caught at the wicket.He was followed by a further three wickets in the next half-hour, more due to loose batting than inspired bowling, though Rashid was unlucky to flick a ball low and hard but straight to Adam Voges at backward short leg. Suddenly Yorkshire were up against the wall, and Tim Bresnan and Morne Morkel, the latter with a runner after his hamstring injury yesterday, found themselves unexpectedly having to dig in. At the start of the final hour the match was still in the balance, Yorkshire on 164 for 7, 41 runs ahead.An inspired bowling change saw Samit Patel come on and immediately have Morkelcaught in the leg trap for 8; 168 for 8. But Bresnan kept a mature head on his young shoulders (12 not out off 41 balls) and, aided by his skipper, saw Yorkshire through to safety. Gough had suffered a poor match until the end, but his last ditch captain’s innings was just what his team needed. With six overs remaining, three of which would have been lost to a change of innings, and Yorkshire 64 runs ahead, the teams shook hands.